,The visual-motor behaviour of 15 preterm diplegic children and 50 control children (age range 4 to 7 years) was recorded on video as they performed a visual-perceptual task (an adaptation of the Animal House subtest of the Wechsler Preschool Primary Scale of Intelligence). The following parameters were analysed and scored: time to perform task; omissions; figure-colour association; sequence direction; sequential scanning order; accuracy of fitting target; and number of anticipatory saccadic movements to next target. The ability.of the control children to perform the task improved significantly with age, as measured by performance time, mistakes in sequence direction and scanning order, accuracy of target fitting, and number of anticipatory saccadic movements. The scores of children with diplegia were not related to age and were poorer overall than those of the control group. Children with dlplegia made significantly more mistakes of sequence direction and scanning order, and significantly fewer anticipatory saccadic movements than the control group. These results indicate that visual-perceptual impairment in diplegic children born preterm is not attributable only to sensory visual loss and to fine manipulation diculties but is also related to difficulties in eye movements and in using anticipatory control to process information.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.